The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-07-16
Branch agricultural associations
each nArish

? Branch agricultural associations i
= each paris
n Central sugar planters association
and branch associations tor each of tn
sugar producing parishes of the State
Grass srowers's associations anu AS
sociations covering each agricuitura
= Industry of the State.
The result has been an immense im
provement in agriculture. 1t is eXhib
Led In the variety of productions o
grass, gvain, early fruits and vegetables
and improved machinery and methods
More careful cultivation, use OF ferti
lizer, where needed.
In an increased production per acre
In large increase this year in tn,
acreage planted, being:
i. Five per cent in cotton.
Fifteen per cent in sugar.
Twenty per cent in truck farms.
In fact, the best agricultural year
known since the war.
l The central sugar factories aud gov.
ernment experiments will go far toward
solving the problems Of sugar produc-
tion.
The new cotton warehouses and
presses in Shreveport, Alexandria,
Monroe and at other points will cheapen
and facili ,lte the handling of the
staple.
ANOTHER HOPEFUL FACTOR
to tie considered in treating the Louis
lana industrial question, is. the fact that
nine parishes and towns have voted
taxes to secr"e railroads and have
granted promptly rights OF way and
depot privileges.
Five years ago only twenty-five par
ishes had railroads, To-day the num-
ber has Increased to thirty-seven.
The roads now fairly under way will
give every parish in the State, except
five, railroad connection with the mar
ke;s Of the world.
Stl" another gratifying fact may me
recorded as bearing directly upon the
indust ~ial growth Of Louisiana.
a few years ago the discharge of
water from the Mississippi liver on to
the lands of Louisiana, through Gre
vases or ievee fronts, was l I,75G, 900
cubic feet per second.
Aside from the sad scenes of women
and children fleeing from their homes,
or camping upon the house tops, de-
pendent upon the charity of the State
or Federal government, was the fact
that millions of acres of tho richest
land in the world was lost to industry.
Louisiana had expended from 1865 to
1879 $l2, ,73l ,675 in attempts to rebuild
aud repair her levees, but owing to
the fact that no large sum or systematic
construction could be undertaken in
any one year, the cost was trebIed and |
the work deferred.
From 1870 fo dat, fha nv xpor,t,.,,.o,
by the State and ievee districts have
been $2,653, $50, completing the entire
line OF Louisiana levees, except Dia-
mond Island and Bougere's and by
work IN Arkansas, protecting the lands
and dwellers in the Tensas basin. Mil
lions of acres are thus brought into
cultivation, and the people of that sec,
tion at last sleep securely in their
holnes.
1 have trespassed long upon your
time but feel con: "ained to refer to two
points touching the question of the
South and our relation to
it and treat nept OF it hereafter.
Marvellous rs the statesmen, made
may appear, the great industi iaI battle
has just commenced
1 notified the public men of the great
Northwest and West fairly and frankiyt
in 1884 that they should no longer en-
10y unquestiOned the benefits OF tho
STREAM or IMMIGRATION,
which for fifty years has been pouring
nto their borders.
Furthermore, that we possessed richer
'oil, richer mines and grander forests
han the North, and should not only
for the immigrant, but offer
potter BONES TO her citizens who had
'lready 'aken up homes in the North
vest.
Already the people Of Iowa, Dakota
md Minnesota are discovering the in {
advantages Of Louisiana, l
md the hundreds who have settled In
Louisiana arc but the q
Of the thousands OF families (
oming. II
The South can offer to the world 80
'er cent. of all the arabic land in the |
United States, of which there is open q
O settlement 97,792 square miles be +
onging to the United States govern /
nent.
We have room for iive-fold the .
PRESENT population. The immigrant 1
will find soil of far greater fertility q
han in the west, aud an average rain. /
all one-third greater than in the best t
grain areas of this country. |
Fifty per cont Of this land is covered
With fores $, say 1896 acres. Il
The value of the yellow pine avail /